A college student who posted anti-Semitic death threats on a Cornell University website and then claimed he did so only to “gather sympathy” for Jewish people was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison.
Patrick Dye, 22, was sentenced by Syracuse Federal Court Presiding Judge Brenda Sannes after pleading guilty in April to threatening to kill Jews on campus with the false intent of calling out Hamas atrocities.
Dye’s lawyer, Lisa Peebles, later told The Washington Post in an email that she plans to appeal the ruling because she is unsatisfied with the interpretation of the federal sentencing guidelines for her client, which included two increases to his prison range.
She also noted that Dai had already spent nearly 10 months in prison since his arrest in November.
“He will serve more than nine months in county jail,” Peebles said. “I expected to serve a longer sentence.”
His lawyers asked the judge for leniency, arguing that Dai was diagnosed with autism after the incident, a medical condition they say explains his crimes.
“He mistakenly believed that the post would spark a ‘backlash’ in response to what he viewed as anti-Israel media coverage and pro-Hamas sentiment on campus,” Judge Peebles wrote in court papers last month. “Patrick’s flawed logic is a result of his autism.”
Prosecutors argued that Dye should receive a sentence within the recommended guideline range of 27 to 33 months in prison, but Judge Sannes’ final decision was still just below the recommended sentence.
“The defendant terrorized the campus community for several days and shocked the nation during a very volatile time,” prosecutors wrote in sentencing documents last month.
The federal government said Dye’s mental illness does not excuse him from breaking the law.
“Many people go through periods of feeling isolated, depressed and facing mental health challenges,” prosecutors argued in the lawsuit. “These tests and challenges do not give anyone the right to terrorize their neighbors or classmates.”
Dai, an engineering student and former junior at the Ivy League university, made several posts on his university’s website just weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre carried out in Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
On October 28, Dai posted vicious comments on the site, including “Jews should be killed,” “I’m going to blow up Jewish homes,” and “Watch out for the pig Jews. Jihad is coming.”
In a post on October 29, the suspect also said he would shoot up a cafeteria for Jewish students and kill other Jews with an “assault rifle.”
He retracted his comments and apologized later that same day. He was arrested two days later, on October 31st.
Peebles previously told The Post that he was upset after hearing a Cornell professor say Dai found Hamas attacks “exhilarating” — comments made around the same time that Hamas tried to misrepresent the Gaza hospital bombing by blaming Israel.
“He suffers from depression, undiagnosed autism and has been feeling overwhelmed which prompted him to make these posts,” his lawyer said at the time.
